This was the first meet that I did an early weigh-in, approximately 24 hours prior to the lifting. I used the sauna in a local gym near my house, along with reducing sodium, liquids, and carbs. I successfully made weight, and was in the 165 class again. Probably competed around 170lbs from eating/drinking after the weigh-in.

^ The 455 was buried deeper than I intended which made the lift tougher than it should've been. I struggled with it, got it, then passed on my 3rd. It was also much deeper than the 455 squat that I did about a month ago, in the gym. I think it was smart to pass on my third because it felt like that was my limit. It also saved my strength/energy for the bench and dead.

- Like the IPA, the APF (or at least the APF meets run by Shawna Mendelson) doesn't allow anything on the knees in their raw division, including neoprene knee sleeves. I wasn't aware of that rule until the morning of the meet. I've been training with my knee sleeves since the December meet, but I don't think removing them on this day affected my squat negatively, or maybe only slightly.

^ The 555 was enough to clinch elite raw. After that, I attempted 570 which was my PR in the gym. The bar was moving slowly and the lift became a grinder. I still managed to pull the bar to the end, but instead of leaning back and hyper-extending my torso, I just barely pushed my hips through, which caused my shoulders to be in line with my hips, but not beyond that. The head judge, Shawna Mendelson, refused to give me the down signal, so the lift wasn't approved. I was very upset because I watched the video shortly afterward and it was clearly finished. After that, I passed on the 3rd because I was exhausted and disappointed. My friend, Tony Gilgamesh, appeared to have the same judging problem at this meet when he attempted 615.